Question Number 1
Basil? No.
Basil is the classic summer herb,
essential to pesto sauce and an important component in pomarola (tomato sauce),
but its use drops dramatically in the winter, when it's out of season. Here's
another idea for basil:
Minestrone alla Ligure
In a somewhat more traditional vein, here is a Ligurian minestrone with pesto sauce, drawn from De Agostini's "La Mia Cucina:"
- 1/4 pound garden greens (dandelion, arugola, radicchio, etc.)
- 1/4 pound spinach, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 pound collard greens, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 a head white cabbage, cut into fairly thin strips
- 2 large potatoes, peeled
- 1/4 pound freshly shelled pinto beans (or borlotti if you can find them)
- 2/3 pound fresh peas
- 3 ripe plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded, and cut into strips
- 2 zucchini, diced
- 1 medium-small onion, minced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 rib celery, minced
- A small bunch parsley, minced
- 1/3 pound short pasta (either hollow, or long flat pasta crumbled)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoons pesto sauce
- 2 quarts water
- Salt
- Grated Parmigiano
Wash the vegetables well, especially the spinach, to remove all traces of sand and dirt, and prepare them as above.
Combine the minced celery, parsley, onion and garlic, and sauté them in the olive oil until the onion is a light golden color. Lightly salt 2 quarts of water and set them on the fire; when the pot comes to a boil add the greens, spinach, collard greens, cabbage, beans, peas, tomatoes, potatoes and zucchini. Stir the onion mixture into the pot and simmer everything for about an hour and a half.
Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon, mash them with a fork or a potato ricer, and return them to the minestrone, together with the pasta; continue summering until the pasta is al dente. Remove the pot from the fire, stir in the pesto sauce, and serve, with grated Parmigiano for those who want it.
